The Marion County Coroner’s Office has come under fire after it was revealed that an obese woman was dragged from her home and hauled away on a trailer in front of family members following her death.
Teresa Smith, 48, who weighed 750 pounds, died Tuesday in her apartment on Indianapolis’ northeast side.
Officials at the scene told 6News’ Jack Rinehart that the deputy coroner made the decision to call a towing service to remove the body from the home.
“We debated for quite a while about how we were going to get her out of there and so we finally decided, since we didn’t have a van that was large enough to carry her, it was decided between (the police) department and the coroner’s office to use (the truck),” said Detective Marcus Kennedy.
Smith’s boyfriend and the couple’s 13-year-old son, along with several neighbors, watched as Smith’s body, still on her mattress, was dragged across the courtyard of the apartment complex, strapped down on the wrecker and covered with a piece of carpet.
“I think they should have handled it differently, putting her on a flatbed like they did. That was like putting a cow up there,” said Smith’s boyfriend, David Johnson.
If you eat like a cow, expect to be hauled away like one, when you die. If they made this story more public (but you know they won’t), it would make a lot of people think about seriously loosing the weight. And the junk food and processed food industries would take a huge hit, in sales. And that’s why we won’t be hearing about this on Tv.
Her boyfriend (!?!) and her son HAD to have been FEEDING her in order for her to get this big. People like this can’t just jump up and run to the store for their own food….they are shut-ins, reclusive people (it said so in one article I read). So the family was HELPING her get this big and stay this big. THIS is DISRESPECTFUL. Then when she finally dies, they get upset about the coroner’s office not wanting to injure themselves lifting her up. As for the “Dirty Carpet” goes, well that’s just gross and mean.
# 39 Al
“You people are mean.”
Perhaps pragmatic or practical.
Someone/something of that size is hard to move. Especially a 750 pound, more or less spherical shape. How dignified can the corpse removal from an apartment complex be?
Extraordinary measures have to be taken just to move them. If you involve man power alone, that amount of weight is dangerous to move. Refrigerators, freezers or washing machines weigh much less.
If you were to take six lads (say 170 pound gents) and put her on a dignified stretcher that could handle her proportions you are over 3/4 of a ton in a small area. I would not want to be on a staircase or a floor that was not up to the stress. Imagine too if someone slipped while carrying that weight and having it fall on you.
Maybe it seems mean what we say, but its not half as bad as eating your way to being a huge burden then a danger to your fellow mankind.
I agree with R.Taylor in that I have a medical back round in surgery and have done first calls for the Coroners and Mortuary. It is very difficult to move a heavier body. The gurney that one is placed on for a larger person has a weight capacity of about 300 plus pounds. The gurney also ads to the weight so when you have two people trying to carry someone it is much harder than it seems. The 13 year old should not have been allowed to watch and as for the boyfriend he needed to just deal with it. They were just trying to do their job.